Chris Clack,
an active AMS Member,
is a mathematician with the
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
in Boulder, Colorado.
He is the technical lead in a team studying site optimization for wind and
solar energy. The goal is to determine at what level the United States can support
itself on renewable energy sources, and where to place these sources, to provide
the least expensive, most efficient generation system with the smallest possible
environmental impact. Collaborating with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
he is using linear programming to optimize the blend of wind, solar, and natural gas
(and other conventional sources) for an optimal cost, when considering capital costs,
fuel costs, transmission costs and electrical losses, using real weather data and electrical load.
The research requires knowledge of US electrical generation, transmission and distribution
systems, as well as meteorological data to model the renewable energy generation.
In addition, he is investigating solar irradiance forecast improvements (including ramp events),
wind energy forecast improvements, and renewable energy interactions between
each other and the atmosphere. He is has a passion for both research and teaching.
In the past he has studied resonant absorption of magnetohydrodynamic waves within
the solar atmosphere, with broader interest in helioseismology, coronal seismology,
mean shear flows, and observations. He has taught multiple university courses in
mathematics, engineering, and physics.